Patron of The Florence Nightingale Foundation, Princess Alexandra will attend the annual memorial of the life and work of Florence Nightingale at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday evening. The ceremony is held to commemorate nursing and midwifery and all staff that work in these fields.

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, will conduct the service as well as give the Address.

The lamp which is the iconic symbol of Florence Nightingale will be removed from the Florence Nightingale Chapel during the course of the service and accompanied by a group of nurses to the Dean who will then set it on the High Altar. This year the Lamp will be led by student nurses from the University of the West of England.

The Chapel in the Abbey’s North Ambulatory was the chantry chapel of Abbot John Islip since 1532. After the end of World War II, it was consecrated for those Nurses and Midwives of the Commonwealth who gave served and gave their lives during the war, both abroad and on the home front.

Previously known as the Nurses’ Chapel, in May 2010 it was rededicated on the centenary of Florence Nightingale’s death.

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was Patron of the appeal to renovate the chapel in honour of nurses and midwives.

Florence Nightingale earned her name, “the lady with the lamp” during the Crimean War from a piece published in The Times.